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KAORI IS RETIRING ATTER THIS SEASON NOOOOOO

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Alysa Liu in the Lou

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average figure skating fan seeing kaori and wakaba's music choices for the olympic season:

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Shoma Uno using skating blades designed for ice dance since October 2024, still does 3A and 4T using the blades

Explained on Twitter by Goichi, a skating equipment specialist who works at Kosugi Skate in Tokyo and Yokohama, and who was also involved in getting Shoma and Marin their ice dance blades:

Machine translation:

The blade featured in the #IceBrave logo is called the YS Blade "Yui" (結).

The name was chosen with the meaning: "Two people coming together, supporting one another, and becoming one."

As many of you might have noticed, "Yui" is designed for ice dance. We never intended it to be used for jumping 3As or 4Ts or anything like that (laughs).

Like, "Can you even jump with this?" "Huh?!" — that kind of reaction (laughs). We were like, What is Shoma even talking about?! (laughs)

It takes a lot of courage for a skater to switch blades.

We shortened the blade as much as possible to reduce resistance, and the toe pick is just barely there, only as much as necessary, to cut down on noise.

We made it super narrow to sharpen edge transitions, and gave it the tightest and most unstable curve among existing blades — all to maximize freedom of movement in skating.

So really, it’s the complete opposite of what competitive skaters would use!

Even the way you jump an Axel had to change completely. Shoma had to go for height over distance in his 3A. And you know, changing your jumping style like that isn't easy. It's incredible!

Plus, this "Yui" blade glides so much that when skating as a pair, if both skaters aren’t using it, they can’t even train properly at the same level.

So that meant Marin had to switch too. That’s serious commitment!

You could really feel how hard they’ve both worked. It was truly beautiful.

With the Fukuoka show just around the corner, please take care of your health and avoid injury! Keep bringing joy to everyone in the audience!

Honestly, just seeing you both skate with such great expressions makes people happy (laughs). Finish strong! You’ve got this!!

#IceBrave #ShomaUno #MarinHonda #YSBlade #BlazingTheirOwnTrailInIceDance

Goichi further explained that Shoma is not using ice dance boots. He tried, but the existing boots for ice dance were too stiff, so he uses soft, flexible shoes designed for singles.

And yes Shoma uses the blades to jump and land 3A and 4T, also 4T3T. Source: me, I saw the jumps (including a 4T3T step out) during the first 2 ICE BRAVE shows, lmao. He also does 2A, 3Lo and 3S with them pretty consistently.

It's likely that YS blades don't break despite the use, because the blades are made from a single block of steel. Yamaichi Steel, the company who manufactured the blades is a steel company- the ancestors of the owners were said to be the ones making samurai swords back in the day.

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happy retirement, koshiro <3

you’ll be deeply missed in singles, you’re a beautiful skater. I wish you all the best in your new ice dance career and your future projects, you’re gonna be amazing! always there to support you 🌈

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imagine eteri's reaction if they tell her not to go....

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When is Tarasova going to give some insane statement about this I need to laugh at it

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ISU and the IOC : we're literally gonna pretend the institutional doping isn't a thing but please your athletes will need to respect some neutrality conditions. Openly supporting the Russian gov or the war is a nono.

RusFed : Got it. Let's send the guy who keeps calling the IOC president names on social media, the girl who got a selfie with Putin and the ice dancers who were at Putin's fucking inauguration. Much apolitical. Such neutrality. wow.

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This is like when you meet with your friends other friend group

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"Music created via AI in the 'Style of the 1990's is also permitted" ??????

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SKATE AMERICA AT LAKE PLACID OR COLORADO SPRINGS CHALLENGE

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Just saw someone refer to chock/bates as bock LMFAOOOO take ur ass back to emerald city

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kaori's 2A has a soul on its own imo

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i will forgive the shibs unretiring because it's funny

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Yuzuru Hanyu thanking fans in different languages at his solo ice show ICE STORY RE-PRAY in Miyagi, Japan (April 2024)

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Was not expecting a shibsibs comeback but I’m excited nevertheless

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Should I use figure skating for my drawing reference in studio or should I be normal